Depends on what you're looking for in a game imo. If you're going for story then probably not, most agree it's not that amazing (I personally don't think it's awful but not the best either). The game pretty much comes down to grinding for completely random drops (and leveling paragon now) once you hit 60. You'll be learning abilities / runes all the way up until 60 though so if you're into playing with all the different abilities (and different classes) then you'll easily get 20+ hours out of the game I would think, which tends to be more than you usually get out of a lot of $60 games these days. They're also releasing more and more patches that's definitely improving the game as they go.

Did you enjoy the free trial? If so what about it did you enjoy? What kind of games do you typically like? etc. would probably help

Depends on what you're looking for in a game imo. If you're going for story then probably not, most agree it's not that amazing (I personally don't think it's awful but not the best either). The game pretty much comes down to grinding for completely random drops (and leveling paragon now) once you hit 60. You'll be learning abilities / runes all the way up until 60 though so if you're into playing with all the different abilities (and different classes) then you'll easily get 20+ hours out of the game I would think, which tends to be more than you usually get out of a lot of $60 games these days. They're also releasing more and more patches that's definitely improving the game as they go.

Did you enjoy the free trial? If so what about it did you enjoy? What kind of games do you typically like? etc. would probably help

I don't know the subgenres but my 2 favorites were The Bard's Tale and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

I liked the trial... the interesting spells, the tough combat action and the labrinths were fun.

I have played close to 200 hours so far and I haven't explored all the classes and all their abilities yet. I am also only paragon lvl 10 on my ''main'', so if you like the grind of leveling and like to play around with specs and stuff you can get a lot of hours out of the game.

My 2 cents would be to buy the game if you liked the demo and have the money So far I think it's worth it and we still have pvp and lots of cool stuff coming in the future.

Is it worth the $60?
I only played The Bard's Tale (2004) and Diablo 3's free trial for games of that subgenre.

I know this isn't the greatest place to say this, and it is not meant to start a flame war (since I play Diablo 3), but I would check out Torchlight 2 on steam instead. If you are trying to get into the genre, it's only $20 which is a much safer investment.

Just give it a look. If you like it, then maybe you can shell out some more money for Diablo in the future.

I know this isn't the greatest place to say this, and it is not meant to start a flame war (since I play Diablo 3), but I would check out Torchlight 2 on steam instead. If you are trying to get into the genre, it's only $20 which is a much safer investment.

Just give it a look. If you like it, then maybe you can shell out some more money for Diablo in the future.

I second that. If you want to check on good things from ARPG genre - check on Torchlight II first, it was released just few days ago (and you can play demo of it before buying). Diablo 3 has most of RPG aspects watered down. One of main things in ARPG - fluidity in combat, D3's DRM requires from you to always stay online (even for single player) and heavily punishes you with latency, which results in lags, rubberbanding, disconnects, maintenances and other horrors - this alone kills it as game for many people. And there are many other flaws (e.g., game is heavily RMAH-oriented and thus it has extremely awful loot system, damn awful AI for followers/summons, etc.).

I got D3 with WoW's promotion, thus I could experience it all myself (and I have best provider in my country). I would never spend money to buy D3. And now when Torchlight II is out, most people found it pretty obvious that D3 can't be compared to TL2 in what concerns ARPG. I already got way more from TL2 for 20$, than I got from D3 for 60$ (and I finished D3 Inferno).

I second that. If you want to check on good things from ARPG genre - check on Torchlight II first, it was released just few days ago (and you can play demo of it before buying). Diablo 3 has most of RPG aspects watered down. One of main things in ARPG - fluidity in combat, D3's DRM requires from you to always stay online (even for single player) and heavily punishes you with latency, which results in lags, rubberbanding, disconnects, maintenances and other horrors - this alone kills it as game for many people. And there are many other flaws (e.g., game is heavily RMAH-oriented and thus it has extremely awful loot system, damn awful AI for followers/summons, etc.).

I got D3 with WoW's promotion, thus I could experience it all myself (and I have best provider in my country). I would never spend money to buy D3. And now when Torchlight II is out, most people found it pretty obvious that D3 can't be compared to TL2 in what concerns ARPG. I already got way more from TL2 for 20$, than I got from D3 for 60$ (and I finished D3 Inferno).

Probably the most bias post i've read in awhile. The game requires absolutely no commitment to the RMAH. You don't need to use it for anything. The GAH is very active and mostly reasonable. Its an ARPG and people seem to forget the fact that most games for 60 bucks last for roughly 10-30 hours. Since the games release it's been moving in the right direction and will continue to do so (because of the RMAH).

The latency bit is alittle true, but its based on your internet. If your net can support online play you should be fine. If it can't then don't bother. Game's worth 60 bucks easily. Especially considering i've made 5x that on RMAH.

Probably the most bias post i've read in awhile. The game requires absolutely no commitment to the RMAH. You don't need to use it for anything. The GAH is very active and mostly reasonable. Its an ARPG and people seem to forget the fact that most games for 60 bucks last for roughly 10-30 hours. Since the games release it's been moving in the right direction and will continue to do so (because of the RMAH).

The latency bit is alittle true, but its based on your internet. If your net can support online play you should be fine. If it can't then don't bother. Game's worth 60 bucks easily. Especially considering i've made 5x that on RMAH.

Sure you can beat game without use of RMAH if you are lucky with GAH. Most of time spent in D3 is farming gold (and for really good items, you either spend whole life farming gold due to obscene prices or you buy gold from RMAH), as loot just doesn't drop. D3 is one of loot-based games - you are getting loot to beat harder monsters to get better loot. What the sense in playing loot-based game if loot is just not there? I finished Inferno, all my upgrades at lv30+ were from GAH, and I tried to use it at minimum, so I unlocked Inferno (lv60) with all gear sub lv50 (weapon was 51 or slightly higher), most of it - sub lv40, and some are even sub30.

Also, Blizzard doesn't sell D3 as game but rather as license to play it, and such business practice is amoral and might become illegal soon. So you have nothing after such "purchase". And what concerns RMAH, which is the only good side of this Economic Simulator game: don't know how it works for NA, in EU you can get some cash, but it is completely out of proportion with amount of time invested.

And latency in ARPG kills the whole game process. It's oxymoron in itself - to have latency in single player mode. And adding latency to some genres just doesn't work. It might work for other genres, but not for ARPG. I guess everyone would agree, that if to add latency to Tetris (with occasional lagspikes, dcs and maintenances/days when you are completely denied the game) - game would become completely unplayable and not fun. Why would latency work for ARPG, specifically in single player mode? Fluidity and being responsive - are among main requirements for good ARPG.

Honestly I would go with Torchlight 2 over D3. With D3 I got to Inferno so fast, was just disappointed. Didn't even finish it until a few months ago.

I'm a person all about lore, the story is no good. The end game is no good, it's like re-doing the same thing over and over = content. Which isn't true. The game needs more content. I'd stick with Torchlight 2 if I was you.

The D3 beta was only up to The Skeleton King. It tricked us all

I will not say that I am guilty, for that denotes shame. Nor will I protest innocence, for I claim no such. Let the comedy begin.

Well, you sound like somebody who is new the Diablo. Is it worth the $60? I say yeah. You'll most likely get over 100 hours worth of playtime out of it, though that depends on the gamer. For me, over 100 is good enough for $60. People still buy $60 games with only 10 hours worth of content and for some reason think it's worth it. You'll have fun with it. But like that one guy said, I say go with Torchlight 2. Only $20 with the same play style. You'll save some cash while still getting hours and hours worth of content. Hope this helps!

I only played The Bard's Tale (2004) and Diablo 3's free trial for games of that subgenre.

I liked that part of the game a lot (it was the "beta" if you can call such a short part of the game a beta) but I think it pretty quickly goes downhill once you get past there. Some people will love it, but I really hated it and I loved Diablo 2 and a lot of other games in this kind of ARPG loot pinata style game. It's not terrible like some other games I have played, but I don't think it's worth the money at all. Maybe in a few months/years after they put out more patches and get the game on track to the right direction, but for now, nah.

I know this isn't the greatest place to say this, and it is not meant to start a flame war (since I play Diablo 3), but I would check out Torchlight 2 on steam instead. If you are trying to get into the genre, it's only $20 which is a much safer investment.

Just give it a look. If you like it, then maybe you can shell out some more money for Diablo in the future.

Agree and disagree with this. They are the same genre, but D3 is more polished story wise. In D3 I like the story and atmosphere a lot more. D3 had better boss fights. However, Torchlight 2 has a diff way of setting up skills, it's more like D2, in that you choose in a tree the ones you want. TL2 also has no respec...sofar. So kinda depends what you enjoy more. I can see people loving one of these 2 games and hating the other. I more enjoy both but find them to be a game I play and don't spend 100s of hours in.

I did the harder modes in D3, but found them to feel the same, I kind of was wishing the bosses would have more abilities or become more challenging besides just adding health to them. In D3 I found when I died, I went and bought a couple pieces from AH and it became fairly easy again. I got bored of the same story over and over, and monotony of everything feeling the same in the harder modes, I'm not really a huge found of killing 1000s of things to find a piece of gear that I may or may not be able to use and instead trade it on the AH. So I ended D3, but that being said, I enjoyed the first play through and I enjoyed TL1, so i'm playing TL2, but I don't have high hopes of spending anymore time than beating it once, maybe a few times, with the diff classes to try them out.

So that being said, 60$ for D3, meh, it's more polished story wise, but don't think it's really worth 3x the price of TL2.

Modes of play
D3: online-only, although you can play by yourself
TL2: online, LAN, and offline

This is completely random order, btw, so here come some longer ones:

Attributes and skills
D3: attributes granted to your character automatically depending on what you are playing. Every level, a new skill or skill augment is unlocked. The augments change how a particular skill functions. You are able to equip 6 abilities at one time, eventually, and you can change them out at any time (except during combat) for no charge.
TL2: you are given 5 attribute points every level to spend however you like. If you want a melee fighter with tons of mana, go for it. Every time you level or gain a rank of "fame" (gained by completing quests and killing champions and bosses), you get an ability point to put into one of three different "trees". There are 7 active skills and 3 passive skills in each tree, and they become unlocked at certain levels. If you put 5, 10, or 15 points in an active skill, your skill goes up a "tier", and gains some sort of improvement.

Levels
D3: 60
TL2: 100

Story
D3: Fight against the minions of hell. There is a LOT of story in this game, and I actually feel that this is something that turned a lot of D2 fans off. The story forces itself down your throat, there are talking and cutscenes in many places. In D2, you could warp almost anywhere, even near a boss, and there was no talking, you just walked to where the boss was, and he would come runnin' at you. And sadly, the main villains in D3 are written like He-Man enemies.
TL2: Hunt down the Alchemist, a hero of the original TL, who has become corrupted by "Ember". This isn't a spoiler, btw, you learn this at the beginning. :P Anyway, the writing is still not great, it's standard fantasy fare, but it's good enough for a hack 'n' slash. Plenty of side-quests, too.

Price point
D3: $60
TL2: $20

I'm really trying to think of anything that D3 does better, and I'm having a hard time. Some of those points, I find equality between D3 and TL2, and some things, TL2 just plain has the advantage. I like both games, though.

The question is what are your expectations? You want a fun game with a good story? A normal run through Diablo 3 takes about 4h to maybe 10h depending on how much you explore. After the first run it's all about rerunning the same "levels" again and again to level up and get better gear. It's a grind and especially inferno difficulty is a very heavy grind when you don't want to spend any gold or real money on the AH.

It isn't true that you need to buy equipment from the AH because the game was nerfed numerous times already so that you can beat inferno even with not so good gear and you can farm good gear more easily.

In the end Diablo 3 is what every other Diablo game was before. It's a grind but a lot of people are displeased because one playthrough is very short and people feel forced to use the auctionhouse. In Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 farming for the best gear available was optional because the highest difficulty wasn't so hard to beat but with inferno where you need better gear people feel forced to farm for hours or use the AH.

For me Diablo 3 is a very good game and I play it from time to time like I played Diablo 2 from time to time. If you want to have fun with the game it's very time consuming because when you don't play for at least 1-2h a session you feel like you haven't accomplished something.

Edit:

Just to comment on the werebisons post

Diablo 3 has 60 normal levels and 100 paragon levels where the time to get from paragon level 1 to level 2 takes about the same time like from level 59 to 60.

Also as far as I know your choices in TL2 are more or less permanent. You spend some points in the wrong attribute? Just start a new character. You spend some points at the wrong talents? You can change the last 3 points spend or start a new character. It's similar to Diablo 2 where you could mess up your character very quickly so that it's necessary to theory craft and gamble a lot when spending points in attributes and talents. You want to experiment with skills and talents? Just do as many characters as you want to experiment with and invest a lot of time. I think it's a lot of fun in Diablo 3 that you can swap talents and runes like you want and experiment a lot with different loadouts.